If You Ask Me is a regular guest columnist feature in The Flint Journal's opinion pages.

Although I've been a state lawmaker for only close to five months now, I've quickly learned that when anyone starts talking about "restructuring" our tax system to pay for additional services, it invariably means one thing -- a tax increase.

Sure enough, the road funding "restructure" plan announced recently would allow Michigan's current 19-cent gas tax to potentially increase up to 38 cents and raise truck and vehicle registration fees. Given our current economic situation and job outlook, more taxes are the last thing Michigan residents can afford right now.

The proposal comes after a report issued last November by the Michigan Transportation Funding Task Force, which estimated that it will take billions of dollars in additional funds to adequately maintain Michigan's roads and bridges.

Our roads and bridges affect all aspects of our life and livelihoods. A well-maintained infrastructure keeps people safe, encourages commerce and reduces our stress level on the roads.

There is no doubt that our local roads and bridges are in desperate need of repair, but I will not support any tax increase. There are too many other potential alternatives to consider.

For one, the federal stimulus package is bringing in $847 million in additional one-time revenue designated for surface transportation purposes. Unfortunately, state-owned highways and expressways are getting the lion's share of the funding, with our county and municipal roads receiving only a fraction.

But the federal stimulus package still presents an opportunity. Remember that the state is receiving up to $7 billion in additional federal stimulus funding over a two-year period. This could free up other state-generated revenues to be used for our infrastructure needs.

For a two-year period only, the state could give serious consideration to using revenues not traditionally used for transportation to help pay for local roads and bridges. During this two-year period, the state could temporarily pump more money to our counties, which in turn would use the funding to improve local roads.

It's certainly out-of-the-box thinking, but creative use of our dwindling state revenues may be the only way to properly maintain our roads and bridges.

Another important way we could free up money to improve local infrastructure is to stop diverting revenue from the Michigan Transportation Fund. One type of diversion, called Interdepartmental Grants, are a budgetary tool that allows one state department to reimburse another state department for services performed.

Currently, the secretary of state's office receives $20 million from the transportation fund for collecting vehicle registration taxes and the state Department of Treasury receives $7.9 million for collecting fuel taxes. Remember, the Michigan Transportation Fund is dedicated to improving our infrastructure.

While state agencies should certainly be reimbursed for services performed, we should look at other ways of making them whole instead of draining crucial funds away from our transportation system.

Since the condition of our roads and bridges have reached a crisis point, we must also consider cutting unnecessary state programs and services to pump more state dollars into improving our infrastructure.

Some of my state House colleagues recently proposed almost $400 million in potential savings in our state budget, including more than $135 million in the Department of Corrections.

Programs such as the governor's Cool Cities initiative were ill-conceived ideas meant to boost public relations -- not solve our state's structural problems. It should be eliminated to help pay for roads because most people would agree that there's nothing cooler than living in a pothole-free community.